Photo Jam 4

Happy Holidays, everyone!

I hope that all of you people are having an awesome

Christmas, Chanuka, Kwanzaa, or whatever other

special times you may celebrate during this season.

I've been promising more photos for ages and ages,

but it's only now that I've become disciplined

about borrowing other people's cameras.

Anyway, some cool stuff happened that is hard to

remember without the aid of a picture-taking

device, so here you go.

Me and Kim having fun while doing some dishes. We do dishes alot, so we might as well have some laughs while we're at it.

These crazy-looking, long-haired folks are the Leesons. They're about the coolest Catholic Worker family you'll ever meet. They're also friends of L'Arche, residing on their own (very sustainable) farm just outside of Otaki. Besides loving the earth and being politically active for Jeus, they meet up with L'Arche sometimes to do a folk singalong. In this case, the meeting was in our living room. Note the variety of instruments, including an accordion. Our core members get a huge kick out of this, especially Julie and Kim!

More from the singalong. The little dude in the lower foreground is named Harper, who I first met while he was living up at Ngatiawa. Not pictured is Julie clapping happily and Kim beating on some bongo drums.

Yours Truly. In a flat cap. Too cool. For School.

It's advent at our house and week number two started right outside by the spa pool. Julie and Kim were having a spa just as we started prayer time, so we figured, "What the hell, let's do it outside!" What can I say? It worked.

Akiko does our reading for the second week of Advent. Things got a little wackier a few days later when Akiko and Kim pushed each other into the spa fully clothed. A laugh riot and the perfect end to a good prayer time. This odd combination of reverence and craziness, as Akiko would say, "is just exactly L'Arche."

Assistants get silly with the "dress-up" bin at a Arahata. From the top left: Elias, myself, Frauke, Rachel, and Christin.

The boys perform a haka for the Christmas show that was put on by our Community Participation Service (CPS). They're really into it, especially Peter. From the left: Matiu (the Kapa Haka instructor), Stephen (in the background), Peter, and Emmet.

Rachel on a walk with Leighanne and Tamzin, our newest core member, who lives with us at Arahata now. She's got a great sense of humor and we're getting on really well.

This is a koru, a Maori word for an unfurling fern frond. Typically, this spiral-shaped koru symbolizes new life, prosperity, and strength. They seem pretty creepy, but they're fascinating to look at up close.

The sky is the bluest blue during summer. On a good, sunny day, so is the sea and kiwis are known for their sailing. Blue, blue, blue. Everything is blue.

New Zealand is a country that has life coming out of every patch and spot you can think of. From the tallest trees to the tiniest lichens, life loves the Land of the Long White Cloud. Green, green, green. Everything is green.

I should also mention that it rains...alot. All over the landscape, there are rives like this running from the mainland down and out into the ocean. Also, the rivers here are reasonable shallow and wide, sort of like in Nebraska, just with less sand and more rocks.

And then there are New Zealand beaches: miles and miles of gorgeous coastline. It can be very cold and windy at the coast, even in the summer time. And, even if it's chilly, you can still get sunburned in about 20 minutes, but it looks pretty. We're fortunate here on the Kapiti coast to have a wealth of beautiful sunsets.

OK, so that's all the photos for now. In the future, stay tuned, because I've got a whole slew of philosophical reflection to get off of my chest, including my review of Freedom Evolves. By the end of this next series of posts, I should have the beginnings of a manifesto for what, exactly, it is that I believe spiritually. Cheers, people.